


Keith Trash

by 230W49thSt



Series: International Fanworks Day [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A Lot Of Ships Get Mentioned And Talked About Here Because I'm A Multishipper And This Is Fun, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dating Talk, Developing Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, First Kiss, Fluff, International Fanworks Day, Just relax, Keith (Voltron) Is Patient With Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mentioned Adam/Shiro (Voltron) - Freeform, Mentioning Of Zombies In A Game, Moving On, Past Unrequited Keith/Shiro (Voltron) - Freeform, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post Season 8, Shipping, The Paladins Come Across Fanworks About Them, There's Like One NSFWish Joke, They Watch Paladins As Vines Compilations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22736698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/230W49thSt/pseuds/230W49thSt
Summary: "Youare the Keith trash," Pidge stage-whispers to Lance. "You're the biggest Keith trash of all of them.""Excuse me?? I'm no trash?? Made of Keith??"Pidge furrows her brows. "I don't think you know what it means in this context."Lance turns to Keith who quickly averts his eyes. "Am I Keith trash?" he asks stubbornly."Uhm. I wouldn't know.""Oh, he is, Keith."--Or: How fanworks help Lance to finally act upon his feelings for Keith Kogayne.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Past Allura/Lance (Voltron) - Relationship
Series: International Fanworks Day [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634806
Comments: 14
Kudos: 98





	Keith Trash

**Author's Note:**

> Happy International Fanworks Day 2020 everyone! 
> 
> OTW's ITDrabble prompts was "characters reacting to discovering fanworks they are in" so that's what I wrote about.
> 
> I'm a multishipper at heart so a special shoutout to all my fellow people whose hearts are just too big for one ship and who helped me to find a place in this fandom.  
> Nevertheless, Klance is still my OTP so this leaves us here :) 
> 
> fair warning: fictional characters talk about fictional ships you might not like - they're having fun though or might be a bit embarrassed about it lmao. No Pidge ships though and Shiro is NOT present but he certainly gets mentioned^^

## Keith Trash

Months have passed after Earth was saved and although it’s hard to say goodbye to their home planet again, the Paladins want to continue their mission to defend and protect the universe. There are more planets to free, to rebuild, to help out, and soon after things have calmed down on Earth, they pack their things and board the newly built Castle 2.0.

Everyone accepted Shiro’s decision to stay on Earth, especially after his wedding to Adam where everyone and their mom bawled their eyes out. He deserves a break and some well-needed healing after the torture and pain he’s been through.

It feels different, leaving Earth again. This time, it’s on their own terms with a chance to say goodbye to the people they leave behind. Also - and this is the game-changer, really - with an all-space connection to Earth’s worldwide web. No one is entirely sure how it works, not even Pidge and she’s been the one in charge, but well, they all profit from this technical masterpiece so why question it.

Hunk runs a space cooking vlog whenever he has some free time, Pidge entertains herself by sending memes to Matt and the Paladin group chat, Allura and Coran find themselves heavily invested in soap operas from the 1990s that - according to them - mirror Altean movies' kind of drama, Keith regularly falls into search holes on YouTube and Lance, well, Lance is usually the one asking “what are you doing?” and joins a party for a while until he gets bored again.

From time to time, Coran films them with a little camera. 

It started back on Earth when Shiro was still with them and the entire world talked about Voltron’s adventures. The Garrison decided that a little PR wouldn’t do any harm so a handful of Garrison employers with no public relations experience whatsoever were given the task to conduct interviews with the Paladins about the great war. After the release of the first short interviews, positive feedback flooded in and the Garrison acted quickly by pushing a camcorder into Coran’s hand for the Castle’s next departure into space. 

Good publicity means more investors means more money means more space projects to fund. 

“The Garrison wants to make some official documentaries about Voltron” was the only explanation Coran was able to give them since he also didn't know any better.

Nothing wrong about that, they all thought, even though it took them a few days to forget about the camera Coran was carrying around all the time, pointing at their faces and filming random conversation in the lounge, during mission briefings and diplomacy talks on foreign planets alike.

Since no one gave them any instructions on how to act or behave on camera (and with the only one who could probably have done so staying behind on Earth) the filmed material resembled more reality TV than something professional to be aired on Discovery Channel. The Garrison wasn’t picky though. 

Things changed when the first documentary consisting of 10 episodes about the daily life of the Paladins in space got released for the public.

And things changed quickly.

~~

Pidge snorts behind her communicator.

“What?” Lance asks and kills another zombie in the game he’s playing on his laptop. They’re alone in the Castle’s lounge, enjoying some quiet time before their next mission, only Hunk is on the other side in the kitchen area trying out new recipes. Usually, Pidge is good company whenever Lance wants to hide in a game but doesn’t want to be all alone in a room, but this time she keeps distracting him by making weird noises. After a while of listening to her giggles and gasps, Lance can’t take it anymore.

“What is it, Pidge?”

“Hmm. Do me a favor and google Shance.”

“I’m trapped in the middle of a herd, I can’t stop now!” he replies. Pow, another zombie goes down.

“Suit yourself.” She jumps up and shrugs. “I’m sure Keith would love to see it first anyway.”

The second it takes Lance to shoot Pidge an offended look is enough for his character to die a gruesome death, guts spilling out while being eaten by the living dead. You are dead, the screen says, and Lance sighs in defeat.

“Great. I guess I'm all ears.”

“Shance,” Pidge simply repeats and falls back into her chair.

“Can you spell that?”

“S-H-A-N-C-E, and then go image search.”

"Huh. Alright. Oh!" Lance smiles when the page begins to load. "Those are pictures and drawings of Shiro and me." He puffs out his chest with pride. "Fans, huh? They know what's good. Shiro the hero and Lance the--,“ he leans forward until his nose almost bumps against the screen, “the playboy bunny???" 

He hears Pidge's giggle as he scrolls down the search results, his eyes glued to the screen in front of him.

"Pidge, what _is_ this??" Heat rises up in his body, settling into his cheeks and burning his ears flaming red.

"Oh, you haven't even added NSFW after the tag yet…" 

Lance's life briefly flashes before his eyes, recounting every decision he's ever made that has led right to this very point of seeing drawings of Takashi Shirogane, the crush of his youth, and him, Lance McClain, in poses that leave little to the imagination. This is both heaven and hell, torture and bliss. 

"What's going on?" 

Lance slams his laptop shut the second he hears Keith's voice next to his left ear. Sneaky bastard!

"Was that Shiro and you?" he asks, still leaning over Lance's shoulder. "Can I see?" 

Lance laughs nervously. "No, you absolutely cannot, go away."

He tells himself the blush is still solely caused by the images that have burnt themselves into the retina of his eyes and not because Keith's and his cheek almost touch, sending tingles of another kind through his body. 

"Did you introduce them to fanart of us?" Hunk shouts across the room from the kitchen area. 

"About to," Pidge replies. 

Meanwhile, Keith takes a seat on the couch next Lance, both of them fighting a silent battle of opening and closing the laptop’s lid. Pidge rolls her eyes but continues. 

"So, you know that our Voltron documentary aired a few weeks ago and we received a lot of positive feedback, right?" 

"Yeah," Lance nods, pressing Keith's hand on top of the lid to prevent him from opening it, "my mom told me I have fan mail waiting for me at home."

"That's one thing but… since the footage was very… soap-opera-like at times, people began to, well, build a fandom around us. A real people fandom. I mean, during our Voltron show era in space the other planets did that as well but I guess we just weren't exposed to it because of the language barrier and the distance between planets. But now you have full access to Earth's Voltron hype: fanfics, headcanons, mood boards and, yeah, fanart."

"They call this fanart?" Lance hisses and throws his hands up in the air. "That was porn!" 

"Let me be the judge of that."

Keith takes advantage of Lance's carelessness and manages to open the laptop.

"No!"

But it's too late, Keith already looks at the open search page and Lance surrenders to his own embarrassment.

"This is humiliating," he groans and buries his face in his hands, glimpsing at a picture of Shiro kissing Lance's neck and pressing him against a wall while his legs are wrapped around the former Black Paladin. 

"You think?" Keith scrolls further. "I mean, there are a lot of good ones. What?" he asks when Lance shoots him an incredulous look, "I can appreciate the talent and effort. Those people worked hard on their art."

"Is that what you think about when you watch porn? The hard work?"

Keith shrugs. "First of all, that wasn't porn. Second... Wouldn't be any fun if it wasn't _hard_ now would it?" 

Lance's mouth gapes open and Keith doesn't even have the decency to blush.

"Did you just-- Where's Coran, he needs to record this!” Lance turns around towards the door. “CORAN!!" 

"Hey Keith, if you like Shance so much," Pidge says with a wicked grin, "google the following: S-H-E-I-T-H." 

Keith furrows his brows, obviously busy deciphering the meaning of the word. 

"Sh-- Sheith? Is that Shay and--" 

Lance rips the laptop from Keith's hand and punches in the letters, hoping to get some revenge for Keith's reaction to Shance.

“Okay, that’s not Shay,” Keith states dumbly while Lance blurts out “Oh shit, that’s hot.”

"Excuse me?" 

Keith's facial expression indicates he expects an elaboration on Lance's reaction but all Lance is able to do for a few long seconds is to blink frantically and look from the screen to Keith and back. 

"I mean, like, uhhh, that pose. There," he points at one picture showing Keith and Shiro sharing a passionate kiss. "You know. Artsy."

"Uh-huh." Keith crosses his arms. "What happened to _that's porn_?" 

"That, uh, picture shows a very sensual kiss."

Keith unfolds his arms and relaxes again. "My younger self would be over the moon."

Lance smacks his thigh. "I _knew_ you had a crush on Shiro!" 

"You're one to talk," Pidge comments and impersonates Lance. " _That guy's my hero!_ " 

"Shut up, I don't talk like that," Lance screeches. 

"Calm down, buddy, I'm pretty sure in other realities Sheith and Shance are legit."

"That's valid I guess,” Lance shrugs. “I mean, in another reality Kolivan and I are the hottest couple on the block."

"Kolivan?” Keith repeats horrified. “Seriously? That guy's basically my stepfather."

"And he's fluffy, Keith, deal with it."

Keith presses his eyes shut and scratches his forehead in distress. “Why are you putting these pictures inside my head? Why?”

"Let’s change that. Hey Hunk,” Lance shouts across the room, “in another reality you and Keith hit it off!" 

"Cool, dude,” comes the prompt reply.

“He gives good hugs, doesn’t he?” Lance says to Keith who gives him half a shrug and half a tilt of his head. 

“Well, yeah--”

“Heith is pure,” they hear Pidge comment. “If not even the purest.”

"OK, between us, your top 3 pairings of our Voltron group. Third place, go."

Pidge hides behind her communicator again, well aware that she’s not part of the conversation anymore but content that she’s done her part.

Keith gives it a brief thought.

"Well. Sheith,” he admits. “I owe that one to my younger self."

"D'uh,” Lance nods in understatement. “You two would have made a dope couple."

"Shiro and Adam were always endgame. I moved on many years ago, it was a hopeless crush."

Lance snaps his fingers. "Gotcha. Second place?" 

"I… I honestly thought, uh - what’s it called - _Allurance_ would have been a long-term thing." Keith’s voice is quiet and he looks at his friend cautiously. It’s a sensitive topic and he doesn’t want to ruin things between them.

"Me too,” Lance answers likewise quietly.

"You were happy." 

"For a while."

"Are you still…" 

"Am I what?"

Keith glances in Pidge’s direction but she doesn’t appear to listen so he turns back to Lance who waits for him to elaborate.

"You know.” His words are barely even a whisper. “Like. Hung up on her?" 

Lance swallows. Unlike Keith, he forces himself to speak at normal volume. He doesn’t want his past relationship to be some kind of forbidden topic, especially not with Keith.

"Uhm. Not gonna lie,” he explains, “I was heartbroken for some time and it didn't help that we went back to being friends so quickly. It’s not like I hid it or something, you've all, eh, _experienced_ me at that time. But it's been a year since our break-up and we've only dated three months. I moved on."

"Hm."

Lance clears his throat and gives Keith a weak clap on his shoulder. 

"You don't need to worry about me. Instead, tell me your number 1 pairing."

Keith opens his mouth but Pidge takes exactly this second to join the conversation again, not aware of the grumpy look Lance shoots her (or she's ignoring it, who knows).

"There are a _lot_ of people having the hots for you guys, this is almost ridiculous. Lance, I've come across 20 people who want to marry you and I'm only on this certain page for like one minute."

"No, thanks," he dismisses her with a wave of his hand, “I'm not available.”

Keith shifts nervously next to him. 

They all remember Loverboy Lance and his flirtations in the early years of Voltron. The war and later getting serious with Allura has changed this kind of behavior. Nowadays he's the one to distance himself from romantic advances, be it from fans or colleagues at the Garrison. 

None of his friends comment on it or make fun of his changed behavior, well, at least not much. His flirts with Allura have eventually led to a relationship that ended in his first real heartbreak. They all guess he just needs some time. Keith knows it for sure.

After some minutes scrolling through random Voltron fan pages, Lance breaks out into loud laughter. 

"User keithtrash,” he reads aloud, “hahaha, hilarious. You're trash, dude.” He points at Keith. “Trash! Bwahaha!”

Keith and Pidge exchange a certain look. 

" _You_ are the Keith trash," Pidge stage-whispers to Lance. "You're the biggest Keith trash of all of them." 

"Excuse me?? I'm no trash?? Made of Keith??" 

Pidge furrows her brows. "I don't think you know what it means in this context."

Lance turns to Keith who quickly averts his eyes. "Am I Keith trash?" he asks stubbornly.

"Uhm. I wouldn't know."

"Oh, he is, Keith."

Lance scoffs. "Can you back off, Pidge? I was having a nice chat here with our team leader until you insulted me." He throws an arm around Keith's shoulders. "You're no trash, okay, don't let it get to you."

"Are you talking to him or yourself?" Pidge teases him with raised eyebrows and a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. 

Keith clears his throat, getting Lance's attention back on the screen he's pointing at. 

"They started a thread with theories about the bonding moment." He frowns and turns to Lance. "Did you… mention it on tape?" 

"No?? I don't think so." 

"Well," Pidge intervenes, "you two joked about it in episode 4, according to our friend user keithtrash. Which was also the episode where you, Lance, mentioned you’re bi so obviously the internet thought this couldn’t be a coincidence. The top theory is you two hooked up and Keith is now denying it ever happened."

"That is ridiculous," Keith protests, "Lance is the one who pretends to have forgotten."

"Dude, you make it sound as if we hooked up," Lance whispers frantically and pulls his arm away from Keith’s shoulder.

Keith's laugh is hollow. "As if people would honestly think that."

Lance bit his lip. “Yeah, you have those bad boy vibes, I’m no match for that.”

“I’m not a bad guy?!”

“ _Vibes_ , you have those _vibes_ though. I'm more the _pick you up for prom with a single rose_ kinda guy.”

"For real?"

"At least that's the impression others give me when they talk about me."

“You’re the _getting tied to a tree on an inhabited moon by your date_ kinda guy," Keith says drily.

Lance sighs in exasperation. “I still appreciate that you got my lion back but until today I don’t get it why not one of you thought about cutting me free _before_ you ran off after Rolo and Nyma? I was stuck alone on this moon!”

“What can I say," Keith smirks, "being tied to a tree suited you exceptionally well that time.”

“Mental note: avoid being around trees when Keith is close.”

"Speaking of you guys flirting," Pidge stops their conversation, "if you ask half the internet you two are made for each other."

This statement earns two flustered looks from Keith and Lance who suddenly have a severe problem with looking at each other.

"Why don't you search for Klance and find out what others think about the idea of you two being gaily in love.”

"Kl-...Klance?" Lance repeats. 

"It's the combination of our names."

Lance scoffs. “I kno-ow. Not that I’m complaining or anything but why is my entire name in it and only your K?”

“To be fair,” Pidge says, “the K kinda dominates the entire word.”

“It does not!”

“What about, uhh, Laith?” Keith suggests.

“That sounds way too innocent and soft for you two.”

“We can be innocent and soft!”

“According to the internet at least,” Keith says who’s already began scrolling through the search results.

Some pictures show them in battle, fighting back to back against purple aliens. Other drawings portray them rather soft, hugging, giving each other forehead kisses. There are a few manips - pictures that have been edited together so it looks like Keith and Lance being in one shot. 

The two of them are completely silent as Keith keeps scrolling down the entire search page. The only reaction Lance gives is a little huff when Keith points the cursor at a drawing of them sharing one big shirt saying "this is our bonding moment shirt". 

A few moments later, Allura’s voice sounds through the coms and orders them to the bridge for their next mission’s briefing.

Pidge jumps over the backrest and leaves, Hunk follows her with a tray of cookies in his arms, mumbling something about bad timing. Keith is about to close the lid of the laptop when Lance stops him without saying a word. Gently, he puts his hand on Keith’s that still rests on the touchpad and double-clicks on a certain picture to open it.

It’s a black-and-white drawing of him and Keith, gazing into each other’s lovestruck eyes as if time stands still for them.

“The others are waiting,” Keith says quietly after some seconds and closes the lid, well aware that the picture will still be there when they come back.

~~

The briefing takes longer than expected and when they are finished, it’s already dinner time. 

They talk a bit about the things Pidge discovered about their own fandom online and Lance reads out headcanons they either laugh about, debunk immediately or tease each other with. It’s fun and light and Coran orders four posters of him in a Paladin suit.

"Gotta support these great artists!" he explains.

When the topic changes to pairings the fandom is excited about, the atmosphere becomes tense.

“Lance and I are called cotton candy,” Allura says and hereby addresses the elephant in the room they've been trying to avoid.

Other ongoing conversations stop in an instant, only Hunk tries to keep it going. 

“Oh, that’s, uh, yeah--”

“Cute,” Lance simply says. “That’s a cute name.”

He turns to Allura and they smile at each other. Moving on has been hard, being around each other has been difficult at times but knowing that they _both_ realized it didn't work out between them helped a lot. A few weeks ago, Hunk accidentally made a joke about their failed relationship and to everyone's surprise - mostly Hunk's - both Lance and Allura laughed about it. 

“Apparently Hunk and Keith can also be called strawberry lemonade,” Pidge continues, now that Allura and Lance indicated they're comfortable with the topic. 

“Cotton candy and lemonade,” Coran chuckles, “now that’s a whole meal.”

“Oh my Bob, guys, Allura and Keith, Kallura, brace yourselves, it’s called Juniblade.”

Allura grins at Keith. “I like that.”

"It does have a nice ring to it," he replies.

“A nice ring?" Lance gasps, "that one wins. Come on, Juniblade? Oh man..."

Juniblade... That's poetic. Lance briefly spaces out until he thinks to hear a familiar noise.

“....Adashi!”

“Bless you,” he says absentmindedly and suddenly, the entire table erupts in laughter. “What??” Lance asks but nobody takes pity in him for at least another minute. They relish in Lance’s confusion until the pout on his face becomes too serious.

“No, no--” Hunk tries to catch his breath again, “that’s the name of Shiro and Adam. Or Shadam. But, oof, I like Adashi better.”

“Still sounds like a sneeze to me,” Lance shrugs and glances at Keith. He’s grinning like a fool and gives Lance a soft kick against his shin. 

“Gonna tell Shiro you compared him and Adam to a sneeze,” he whispers.

Lance wants to reply, he really does, there’s a snarky remark, a witty response, an insult, and blackmail material of why Keith shouldn’t do that on the top of his tongue, all ready to come out whenever he gives it a go.

But it doesn’t come. Keith’s smile holds him captive and he doesn’t want it to leave his face yet. Instead, he grins back, returns the kick under the table and wraps his ankle firmly around Keith’s.

None of them say a word but for the rest of dinner, neither of them is able to contribute much to the conversation.

~~

Lance has spent the last hour on pretty much every site that has the word “Klance” in it. The hard drive of his communicator is filled with downloads of drawings, manips and real pictures of him and Keith that he didn't even know existed. He considers pre-ordering something called a Klance zine but stops when the site wants to know the delivery address. He makes a mental note to ask Coran about how he dealt with that problem and the posters he ordered.

On his laptop, there are at least 10 open tabs with fanvideos of him and Keith, some accompanied with pop music, one is called “are they gay?” and collects so-called 'proof' on the stated question and then there’s one he’s already watched two times.

He opens the messaging app on his communicator and copies the link into a chat.

_You shared a video link with Keith: ‘Ten minutes of Keith and Lance being gay (for each other)’_

He swallows and punches in the next sentence before he chickens out.

_4:15 what was that look for_

**what are you watching??**

_click the link. it’s a compilation of our scenes in the voltron documentary_

_so what was that look for_

**that is just my face?**

_well user kaltenburt9000 said this was proof you're gay for me and it got 329 upvotes_

**your point?**

_would you upvote this statement?_

**are you serious?**

_you're avoiding my question with questions_

**am not?**

_keith_

**am not!**

Meanwhile in his room, Keith wonders if Lance is finally up for a certain kind of conversation and skims through the video. He thinks about it for a moment and types another message. 

**you look at me a lot in that video too**

_yeah ofc you’re the leader, i have to_

**you didn’t look that way at shiro**

_because i didn’t have to make sure he didn't bolt and run to the blade or some space whale_

_or do something incredibly stupid_

**ouch**

**what did you think at 7:30 when you looked at me**

_thought about the delight of cutting off your mullet_

**right…**

_;)_

_so_

_i read a few things about_

_you know_

_klance_

**what’s your verdict?**

_do you think they really believe we’d be a good match for each other or are they just delusional_

**does it matter what they think?**

_no_

_but they make good videos and art lol so i give them /some/ credit_

**wait until you find the fanfiction, that’s when they own your soul**

_way ahead of you and already bookmarked a few_

_hey_

_we had shance and sheith and klance but did you ever look up shklance_

**is that what i think it is**

_look it up space cowboy_

**and? what do you expect me to say**

_personally, i think it's an interesting combination. intimidating as hell though._

**i told you my crush on shiro's been over for a long time.**

_hello, shiro is married, this wasn't even a suggestion!? jeez keith, i was just saying it's… interesting_

_btw_

_you never told me your number 1 pairing, your o-freaking-t-p_

**correct, i never told you**

_can i guess_

**if you must**

  
  


Lance's thumb hovers over the K but he can’t bring himself to type it in. Instead, he sends a different message. 

_wanna come over and watch paladins as vines compilations with me?_

In the room next to him Keith's heart skips a beat. Not even two minutes pass until there’s a knock on Lance’s door.

“Come in.”

“What’s wrong?” Lance asks when Keith settles down next to him on the bed and they both lean their backs against the wall. “Are you, like... avoiding looking at me?”

Keith’s eyes are strictly fixed on the still open page on the laptop's screen with the video Lance has sent him. 

“As I just learned you’re not comfortable with being looked at.”

“Ah, come on, Keith,” Lance whines and bumps his shoulder against his, “I was just saying it’s kinda, uh, gay how you looked at me.”

“Maybe because I’m gay.”

Lance chuckles. “Yeah, I know. It's kinda hard to miss."

Keith finally looks at him and smirks. "Just so you know, I will take this as a compliment."

"It definitely was one," Lance smiles back.

They settle down comfortably next to each other and Lance pretends it isn't a big deal - but it is. And he's aware that it's also a big deal for Keith what doesn't make this any easier. But after a few minutes, he relaxes, especially because he takes absolute joy in the fact that the internet put a “Keith” logo on the boy running away from his mother with a knife in his hand.

When the vine with the two bros in the hot tub appears and is described as Keith and Lance, they both glance at the non-existing distance between them. Their shoulders touch and their thighs are pressed together.

Lance snorts. “Well. We’ve already established that you’re gay.”

"And you're bi."

“Do you think people write fanfictions about us watching Voltron vine compilations?” Lance asks after the second video.

“That would be weirdly meta and probably boring.”

“Depends on where it leads to. You, me, alone. Anything could happen."

The way Keith bites his lip, unsure of how to reply, makes Lance very very very self-aware of what he's just said. "Uh. So… what’s your favorite pairing? You, uh, still haven't told me."

Keith folds his arms across his chest and raises his chin. "I thought you wanted to guess?"

"Tell me?" 

They stare at each other for several beats of their hearts until Keith tilts his head.

“What do you think about… Veracxa?”

“What is-- Wait.” Lance holds up a hand. “Veronica and Acxa??? Why?? I mean, I like Acxa and they’re disgustingly in love but why is that your favorite pairing?? That’s my _sister_ , that’s a bit gross. Can _not_ support.”

Keith shrugs. “I didn't say it's my favorite pairing. But I like the idea.”

He keeps eye-contact despite the blush on his face and Lance appreciates his effort. He wants to have this conversation, he's ready but it's something new and he's still a bit anxious.

“Right.” He coughs. "You mean like a McClain and a half-Galra together?”

"They… they do make a good team." Keith lowers his gaze for a moment but forces his eyes back at Lance. "Don't they?" 

"True. They have an, uh, interesting dynamic." Lance forces out a chuckle. "Know any single half-Galra or… ?" He gives Keith his signature finger guns.

"Huh," Keith hums and pretends to think about. "Ezor and Zethrid are still very much into each other but I can ask around." Keith chews on his lip. "You have any single McClain brothers?" 

"Luis is married. There's Marco but he's not the type for long-distance. Maybe one of my _primos_ would be a match."

It was a safe way to approach the topic they've been dancing around for a while. But if none of them has the guts to actually ask what needs to be asked, they will stare at each other in awkward silence for another century. Thankfully, Keith can tolerate awkward silences even less than Lance.

"So... does that mean you're considering... dating again?" 

“Why, do you wanna ask me out?” It just slipped out, some leftover fuel from Lance’s Loverboy era, and Lance regrets it immediately when Keith gives him a long unamused stare. For a moment, Lance firmly believes he’s about to leave when he shifts next to him. Their legs and shoulders aren’t touching anymore and Lance hurries to put his hand on Keith’s thigh in an attempt to stop him.

“Don’t go. I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t leaving,” Keith says quietly. “I was just-- giving you space. Don’t--” Keith warns him when he sees the shimmer in Lance’s eyes, “make any space jokes now.”

Lance suppresses a panicky grin and nods obediently. "Uhm, to answer your question… I'm kinda done with random flirts. But if I knew the other was serious about me… I’d like to give it a try.” He briefly glances at Keith only to stare back at his lap again. “What about you?" 

"You know I'm serious about you." 

Keith’s voice is soft and Lance can’t help himself but look up so their eyes lock. Lance becomes aware that his hand is still firmly resting on Keith’s thigh, holding him in place. Keith takes notice of his embarrassment immediately and very gently removes it from his thigh, putting it back into Lance’s lap.

Tension fills the space between them and Lance finds himself in the worst possible situation: Keith's words are everything to him but he's lacking the necessary words to make him understand exactly that.

“It’s fine, Lance,” Keith says quietly, mistaking the other’s silence with a plea for more time, and it’s heartbreaking, really, how much time Keith is willing to give him without even knowing if Lance will ever be ready so when Keith breaks eye contact and mumbles again a quiet “it’s fine,” Lance is absolutely sure that no, it’s _not_ fine and he doesn’t want to wait any longer.

"I'm Keith trash," Lance blurts. 

"What--" 

The way Keith stares at him, squinted eyes and lips pressed together in pure confusion, he’s aware what follows might not be his best confession but it’s been bottled up inside of him too long and now it splashes out like two or three mentos being thrown into a coke bottle, leaving a mess but well, welcome to Lance's life.

"I looked it up, I'm Keith trash,” he repeats quickly, words keep spilling out of his mouth “I'm trash for, uh, you. Is that how one says it? Urban dictionary wasn't very helpful. When I looked it up, the first explanation on the page was just ‘you’. Literally, you. I typed in ‘what is trash’ and the answer was ‘you, you are’. Which isn't wrong, let's be real here. But I figured it out eventually. Anyway. I'm-- I'm sorry it took me so long to, you know, admit that I'm, uh… trash - _your_ trash - and--"

"Lance, stop." Keith let out a nervous burst of laughter. "You-- you don't have to do this now just because of that Klance stuff--"

"But I want to!” Lance insists loudly and scoots closer to him. “Let me be your trash."

"Would you just--,“ Keith sighs but cannot help himself but also crack a smile, “would you just stop using the word _trash_? This doesn't even make sense anymore…”

Encouraged by the little smile on Keith’s face, Lance wiggles his eyebrows. "I'm your garbage,” he purrs.

"Well, maybe it does make sense," Keith says flatly. 

"Oi!" 

They both laugh when Lance’s playful punch lands on Keith's shoulder.

The tension between them has changed, the worst part is over but the nervousness is still tangible. Someone has to say something soon before things get awkward again.

“So,” Lance says, visibly more upbeat than before.

“So,” Keith repeats.

"I'd ask _you_ but… the last time I did…" Lance worries his lip and offers an apologetic grimace. 

He doesn’t have to end the sentence, they both know he refers to Allura. The last time he asked someone out, it ended with heartbreak. Keith isn’t Allura, they both know it, but Keith doesn’t hold it against him if his mind can’t differentiate well enough yet - as long as his heart will do.

"Lance?" 

"Yeah…?" 

Keith waits until Lance looks properly at him again and asks the one million GAC question.

"Will you go on a date with me?" 

"Yes!!" 

The answer comes out quicker than Lance shoots and the speed catches them both off guard. There's a short pause during which a grin spreads across their faces and Lance is about to say something else but stops when he sees the light frown on Keith’s forehead.

“A-- about the date,” he stammers but Lance smoothly cuts him off, already aware of what Keith is worried about.

"Do you want me to plan it?" 

Keith exhales in relief. "Yes, please."

"Cool. So," Lance runs his hand through his hair, "this is really happening, huh?" 

"Only if you want."

"Of course I want to! I'm not broken, Keith. I wanted to go out with you very badly for some time now but I didn’t want you to become some kind of rebound. I liked you before Allura but--"

“I wasn’t over Shiro yet. And then you dated Allura.”

“We have bad timing.” Lance nods in agreement. "We’re… we’re not making this awkward, okay?”

Lance chuckles. “I’m afraid you cannot avoid all the awkwardness that comes with dating me, Keith.” He holds up his hands in surrender. “You have to deal with it.”

“We’ve spent years in space together," Keiths smirks, "I think I know what I signed up for.”

"Oh my God, you look at me like in that video,” Lance says and hides his face behind his hand. “Stop it.”

"Sorry,” Keith chuckles and pointedly stares in the opposite direction. “Go and upvote kaltenburt9000's comment for me. I can't help it."

"Hey." Lance gently touches Keith's chin and turns his head back towards him. "Quiznak, you're beautiful." For a moment, they get lost in each other’s eyes and the tension between them builds up faster than they both can handle. Lance slowly lowers his hand and opens the tab with the video. 

“Happy now?” Keith asks when the thumb next under the comment turns blue.

“Very.” Lance presses his lips together and tilts his head, eyes nervously scanning Keith’s face. “So…,” he finally says, “can I put my arm around you or do you expect me to do the move?" 

Keith laughs, loud and unabashed. "The move?”

Lance takes it the only way he can: as a challenge. He stretches his arm and fakes a yawn, all under the amused eyes of Keith, until his arm falls on his shoulder. 

"Impressive."

"Why, thank you."

They continue watching some episodes of the documentary since both of them haven’t had the chance to properly watch it yet with all the stuff going on in space. Keith cringes every time he sees himself on screen and even more whenever Coran has filmed him during a pre-mission speech. He hides his face by pressing it against Lance’s shoulder. 

“Shht, it’s cute how you even give us a pep talk before a peaceful dinner with our allies.”

“Diplomacy stuff still freaks me out,” Keith confesses to Lance’s shoulder. “The pep talk is more for myself than you.”

“We know.”

The longer they watch, the less they talk and the heavier Keith's head becomes. At one point, Lance has pulled their intertwined hands over his stomach so Keith is snuggled firmly against him, making it easy for the Paladin to drift off.

"Still awake?" Lance whispers after another episode. 

It takes a few seconds for Keith to answer.

"Barely,” he yawns and straightens himself. "We should probably call it a day."

Both of them don’t want to end it here but they’ve been awake for almost 20 hours so Lance agrees albeit a bit hesitantly. 

"But I bring you to your room, good?" 

Keith raises an eyebrow.

"If I can't be your trash, let me be a gentleman,” Lance explains stubbornly.

“Alright.”

Keith gets up first and holds out his hand. He acts more self-confident than he feels after all the months of pining after Lance and finally having him agreed on a date but he feels drunk from being tired and this feeling is stronger than his anxiety. He _really_ just wants to take Lance’s hand…

...who, of course, takes it in a heartbeat and lets Keith pull him up. Hand in hand they leave the room only to arrive in front of Keith’s chamber after five short steps.

"Good night,” Keith says, still reeling in the touch of their joined fingers. “It was..." 

Fun? Romantic? A step into a possible future? Everything he’s been waiting for and they’ve only watched some videos together? The beginning of something very good?

"Yeah, it was," Lance says softly and takes a step towards him. "Hey, um. You asked me what I was thinking about when I looked at you in that one scene in that fanvideo."

"The delight of cutting off my mullet?"

“That was a lie,” he admits. “I remember that moment clearly." He rubs the back of his neck, fighting against the nervousness. "I, uh, thought about… kissing you." 

"Oh."

"Yeah… and I know this wasn't technically a date but--" 

"Yes," Keith interrupts him breathlessly, almost closing the distance between them, "yes you can."

The blush on Lance’s face suits him, Keith thinks but takes a polite step back but Lance is quicker and stops him. He cups Keith's cheek and runs his thumb gently over his chin until Keith relaxes and puts his hand on the small of Lance’s back.

Lance swears the butterflies in his stomach are equipped with blades - over-confident, hotheaded and ready to put up a fight - otherwise he can't explain the nervousness he experiences when Keith leans forward. 

In the end, they meet in the middle when their lips touch for the first time. 

It's a brief kiss, maybe even a little test of how well they'll fit together, but then again they've known each other for years. So when it doesn't end with one cautious little kiss, it doesn't mean they're moving too fast. Keith has waited for Lance to catch up with him. Now they're on the same page, ready to begin the next chapter together. 

Speaking of chapters...

"Hey Keith," Lance mumbles against his lips.

"Mhm?"

"Wanna read some Klance fanfiction together? There's one about us being soulmates and you freaking out about it."

Keith grins but leans back.

"It's almost midnight, go to bed."

"Just one chapter? Team leader?" 

It's hard to resist Lance's puppy eyes so Keith has no other choice than to heave a sigh and open the door behind him. 

He raises a finger. "Only one chapter!"

Lance quickly grabs his hand with a happy squeak and jumps inside the room, dragging Keith behind him who rolls his eyes in pure fondness. 

They won't stop after one chapter but honestly, who does when it's a story about their OTP?

**Author's Note:**

> i had a writing low since 00:01 am on 01/01/20 lmao so i'm especially happy about having written AND finished something for IFD2020 this week, whoop. to another year of creating fanworks \o/
> 
> ps. lance plays the walking dead game series in the beginning because i'm currently hooked up on it. clementine is my heroine!


End file.
